Swamped

We're talking muck beast jockeys... But they're usually greblings, and this print looks bigger.

"That's all well and good, but even if it's something else, where would you even hide it?" Black asks skeptically.

"The water. Muck beasts can stay submerged in swamps for days."

"Hold on, now. Muck beast is a bit vague, isn't it?" Sunflower interjects. "I've heard lots of swamp critters called that. Gators, mudvipers, bogcats. Hells, even heard someone call a swamp mallow that once. You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"Ah, of course. This is a particular type of reptile that's actually called a 'beast' by animal specialists. They're bigger than gators and they have thick shells that are tough to pierce. There's a few kinds, but muck beasts are the main one that gets ridden. Mostly by greblings."

"Grebs," Black mutters. "This print's real big for a greb, isn't it, though? Sure looks like a human's boot to me."

You nod.

"That's true. Greblings have an easier time holding on when the beast goes at full speed. The few human riders I've heard of are very skilled, not to mention skinny. So if this belonged to our hypothetical abductor, it would be hard for them to ride very far with a passenger as well. Much more weight to account for."

Sunflower doesn't say anything for a moment. He just stares past you.

"It's about a half-mile offshore," he says quietly after a pause. "Not moving. Guessing the eyes on us are waiting to see if we leave before they call for it."

"Didn't you say they stopped?" Black asks. "If they were waiting for a chance to leave, it'd be better to stay on us."

"Well, if all worked as planned, when we stopped talking they stopped being sure if we were people at all, and didn't want to risk getting closer," Sunflower replies. "But they likely heard our voices before that, so they aren't sure it's safe."

"Okay, so say they're still nearby. How do we catch 'em?" Black asks.

If only we could predict where they'd go before they go there... But what's up with these eyes on us? Some kind of wizardry?

Well, you could use a bit of time ether to predict their movements. It doesn't seem like the best use of it, but maybe you can do the same thing without the ether.

Sooner or later they'll probably want to go to their beast, so they're bound to try and get closer to it sometime. Just in case they have to make a quick escape before confirming whether anyone's here. But if being spotted is risky enough, they'll focus on confirmation, maybe even waiting until dawn to do so.

"How exactly are they watching us?" you ask Sunflower. "With eyes like yours? A sailor's eyepiece? Magic?"

"Didn't see an eyepiece or anything like that. But they also weren't straining their eyes. Magic could explain that, but if that were it..."

Black suddenly starts talking, just as Sunflower stops. You think he realized he was saying a bit more than he meant to.

"What if it wasn't about us? Maybe they were watching for a signal, like how we contacted each other but with lights instead of sounds. If it was conspicuous enough, you wouldn't need any eyepieces or spells or whatnot to catch sight of it."

That gives you a thought.

"When you grabbed me, I was trying to look into a window. Could their accomplice be inside the guildhouse? They'd only have to put the lights on for a moment. We might not even catch it."

"I would," Sunflower says, but he seems hesitant. "Unless I'm off my game tonight. What do you think, Black?"

There's a brief pause before Black speaks up.

"I think he's right. Someone's in the guildhouse. Don't know who, exactly, or why, but that's what my gut is telling me."

"Well, you've got one of the most reliable guts I've ever known," Sunflower replies. "Does it have any other thoughts at the moment?"

Someone's gotta go in there to shake things loose.

"Yeah. Got a feeling that whoever it is, they're making their exit real soon."

Sunflower is quiet for a few moments.

"Your gut's right again. Just spotted a window moving a bit. It's on the second floor, though, so I'm not sure how they're planning to get down. We should probably be ready for that."

You feel Black backing away. It occurs to you that you've never had a chance to see their face; Sunflower was drawing all of your attention. And he still seems to be, because he's making an odd gesture.

It takes you a bit to realize what he's doing. It looks like... waving a wand? Does he realize you're a wizard?

Well, whether he does or not, you weren't planning on doing any magic. You give a quick "no" signal, since you're assuming the idea is to stay quiet.

He doesn't seem to mind too much, because he makes a new gesture. You only need a moment to understand what he's asking you to do with this one - get inside the building.

Although his gestures are a little short on the details of how you should do that.

Through the door?

Well, the back door to the guildhouse is nearby. It's probably locked, but you'd feel silly if you didn't check and it turned out to be open.

It is, in fact. Perhaps the intruder got in this way. But why leave through a window, then?

You suppose that's a matter you can worry about once you actually find them, and hopefully get a chance to ask some questions. Unfortunately, that could be tricky. You never set foot in this guildhouse before you got hired as a ship's wizard, and you weren't inside for very long. Not to mention that for all you know, they could have changed the interior during the intervening years.

Well. The first thing to do is find the stairs, since evidently they're on the second floor. And you'd better move quickly - but preferably not with the aid of time magic.

You don't see the stairs in this room, though, which means you'll have to waste time searching...

...unless you're right about the intruder coming in here. Then they would have had to take the stairs. So if you could follow their trail, that would point you in the right direction. It's a risk, but you doubt you have time to come up with a better idea.

Of course, that means finding their trail... and you've just spotted something that might well be it.

Slime?

There's a small spill of something on the floor. You don't know what it is offhand. It's mostly transparent, but it's definitely not water - too thick for that.

And there's another spill not far off. About one pace away, you'd guess. Maybe it's something that got on the intruder's boots.

You follow the splotches and soon enough find the stairs. Oddly, there aren't any more splotches now - maybe the intruder noticed the strange slime and removed their boots. You hope it will be easier to find them once you're upstairs.

You climb up the stairs, and soon hear a noise. They're probably working on opening the window. Maybe these ones are as troublesome as the ones in the hospital.

The fact that you keep hearing similar noises suggests that to be the case. Still, you don't know how close they are to opening it, so you rush towards the noise as soon as possible.

And it's not very difficult to narrow down which room it's in, because the door is still open. You approach carefully, hoping to get a look without being noticed in turn. As it turns out, this isn't very hard because the intruder has his back to you.

There's a human fiddling with the window. He's got one boot slung over his shoulder on a strap; the strange transparent ooze is all over its sole. But what strikes you more is the insignia on the back of his jacket - the Flame family crest.

You think you've found Mortimer Flame. You haven't any idea why he came here, or why he seems to be trying to leave through the window. Frankly, there's a lot going on right now that you're confused about.

But you can sort that all out later. Right now, you need to act.

Close the door behind you. Keep a chair between yourself and Mortimer in case he reacts to you presence with violence. Have the wooden totem ready in case it means anything to him.

First things first. Make it harder for him to run.

You shut the door as you come in. This gets his attention, but you quickly rush behind a chair and grab it before he finishes turning around. If he makes a move, you'll be ready for him.

"Who are you?" he shouts angrily. He seems to be looking you over. It's a bit hard to tell with the bandages covering so much of his face, though.

"No mask," he mutters, after a while. You aren't entirely sure how he's reacting to that fact.

"Nobody important. I just thought it best that you get back to the hospital."

"Yeah, and then they'll just grab me again. No thanks."

Hmm. That's a little odd.

"And what if they decide to go after your family instead?"

"Waste of time. They're tryin' to get to my Pops, not Uncle Leo. They figure he's finished soon anyways. Pops ain't gonna give two shits about him or my cousins and they know it."

Oh. Well, that clarifies some points about how the various Flames are related, though you have some other questions. But he still seems fairly hostile, so he's not going to be inclined to clarify.

"They might go after them to get to you."

"Too bad for them I'm a whiny brat who only cares about himself. What do you even want with me?"

"I told you. I want you to get back to the hospital. That, and I'm a bit curious about what exactly happened at the blacksmith's."

That's gotten him really upset. He starts running towards you. You push him away with the chair.

"I'm not that curious," you say. But it doesn't seem to have helped. He tosses the chair aside, giving you barely enough time to get behind another one.

In fact, something more than simple anger seems to be at work here. When you look into his eyes, there's a strange lifelessness to them. As though he's not acting on his own any more.

You only have one idea at this point. You reach into your pocket and pull out the Oak Crest.

For just a moment, you think you see a flicker of understanding in him, and he seems to stand in place. But it's quickly gone. He's moving towards you again.

What now?

Lifelessness in his eyes... Could that be the influence of Goan? Would the forgotten god have enough power to compel people like that at this point?

Accuse him of being in league with the dead god and see how he reacts.

Some other force seems to be in control of Mortimer's body. You can't help but wonder if this has something to do with the exiled god you're trying to do something about.

Could Mortimer be the lone believer you're looking for? Or is the god somehow able to take control of him through other means? You feel you need to know more.

The first thing to work out is if the god is involved at all. So you call out to him.

"Is this Goan's doing? Are you working for him?"

Mortimer doesn't react, and continues to advance towards you. You fling the chair at him, and grab another one.

It takes him a moment to untangle himself from the chair. As you're trying to work out what to do next, you spot something unusual.

The strange substance on his boot has turned red. Could that be controlling him somehow?

Well, you could always try to get the boot off him and see if anything improves. Of course, if your guess is right, then it's probably a bad idea to grab the boot yourself.

Splash his leg with the fire bucket! Or is that a spittoon?

Perhaps you can wash it off. You look around quickly - there's supposed to be a fire bucket in every room in public buildings.

You soon spot a bucket in a corner, and it's full. Well, they're intended for emergencies, but as far as you're concerned, this clearly qualifies. You grab the bucket and try to fling its contents towards the boot hanging off Mortimer's shoulder.

You're not the best at throwing, though. You lose your grip and the bucket itself goes flying. It knocks the boot off, but also drenches Mortimer.

"Blech!" he shouts. "The hells is this stuff?"

"Isn't it water?" you ask, puzzled.

"Doesn't feel like water to me. Too thick for that."

And then you realize that there's another bucket in a different corner. But then what's this one... Oh. Wait.

"This is a sailor's guild," you say. "That must be their spittoon."

Mortimer is clearly disgusted.

"Okay, you win. Hospital's going to be the nearest place with a shower. But you're gonna need to keep that freak away from me."

He seems rather calm, considering.

"Er... do you remember what you were just doing?" you ask him.

"I got real mad and you threw a bucket of spit at me." He glances around. "Looks like you tossed a couple of chairs first? Must have really lost my temper."

"I think the strange stuff on your boot had something to do with it."

He glances over at the boot. It's just lying on its side. The ooze is back to transparent.

"Well, I thought it was pretty gross, but I don't know what it is. So maybe it did do something. Oh well, never really liked these boots anyways. We'll figure something out later, right now I really need a shower. Come on, let's take the door, this window's too much trouble."

He seems to have calmed down. You might want to see if you can get any answers out of him on your way out.

What do these masked fellows want with your pops? And how well do you know a couple fellows who go by Black and Sunflower?

"So. Just how much do you know about what these people with the masks want with your father?"

Mortimer doesn't say anything for a bit. Then he asks a question of his own.

"You showed me something, right? When I was angry? Kinda remember that."

You hold out the Oak Crest again.

"Yeah, that. It's Uncle Leo's. Mind telling me how you got your mitts on it?"

"He seemed convinced that the sea god wanted me to have it," you reply.

"So he just gave it to you? Well, I guess he might be in a weird mood after what happened to us all." Mortimer's tone suggests that still isn't a productive area of inquiry.

You're about to wonder if it's worth prodding him to answer your question when he finally speaks up.

"If you've got that, then I guess it's safe to tell you. Pops and Uncle Leo are involved in some kinda shady business, something called the Guild. I'm not supposed to know about it at all, so I haven't really done much poking into the details, just listened in on a few conversations. Main thing I know is, Uncle Leo's supposed to be in charge, but there's some kinda turf war going on."

"Between who?" you ask.

"Didn't pay a ton of attention to that, but it sounded real messy. Seems it's not just two sides going at it, but a bunch of 'em and the alliances keep shifting."

"And what does that have to do with your father?"

"Don't know for sure, but the gist of what I overheard is, pretty much nobody respects Uncle Leo any more. But our family name carries a lot of clout in the Guild - don't ask me why, I got no clue what any of 'em are thinkin'. Anyways, my guess is that one group or another is trying to get Pops on their side to give them an edge."

You can't help but feel like he's hiding something, but you aren't quite sure what yet. Still, you've got a better sense of the situation, if not all the details. It doesn't seem on the surface to have anything to do with Goan, but you never know what you might dig up.

It occurs to you that you might have another opportunity. You haven't really had a chance to do much poking into your new acquaintances. There's no guarantee Mortimer knows them, but it's worth a shot in the dark.

"Incidentally, have you heard the names Black or Sunflower?" you ask him. "Because there's some people going by those names outside. And I'm not entirely sure what they want. They seemed friendly enough, but I've also only just met them."

He stops walking suddenly.

"So they're working together," he mutters. "That explains a lot."

"I don't suppose you could share what it explains with me?"

"Uncle Leo was talking with someone about local criminals and whether any of them might be working with one of the Guild factions. Sunflower's running some kind of smuggling operation to sneak food in to Kandria's poor without any of the nobles getting their grubby little mitts on it. Black works at an underground gambling house that a lot of out-of-towners visit. Top player. Loses just often enough that people think they stand a chance."

You think you see the shape of it.

"So Black finds a good target, someone who won't draw suspicion but isn't likely to turn on them," you muse. "Then the target loses big, and Sunflower offers a way to settle the debt. And all they have to do is take a food shipment past the Kandrian border and leave it at a dropoff point. Is that what you're thinking?"

Mortimer nods.

"So did your uncle think either of them was with the Guild?"

"I remember they both made the 'probably clear' list," Mortimer says, thinking. "But there was one thing Uncle Leo found worrying."

Mortimer seems a little doubtful as he continues.

"Now, one thing you gotta realize is, Uncle Leo's really religious. He worships the sea god, but he also pays his respects to the others when he can. Often says to me they're all what keeps this world together. So the thing that had him concerned was that neither of those two seemed to be churchgoers. Maybe that's not a big deal, I dunno."

It might be. You're looking for the lone worshipper of an exiled god, who apparently has quite the disdain for the others. And one person can only do so much. So Goan's follower might hire nonbelievers to do some of the dirty work, since they're not likely to go warning another god.

But that's only speculation. And even if it's true, you've got no idea if it applies to Sunflower and Black. Doesn't really change much, even - you weren't exactly going to give them your full trust anyway.

All you've really got is a sense of one reason why they might end up turning on you. But it's not especially important, not unless you find something out that makes it more important.

The real question is whether you should bring Mortimer out to the two of them, or if you'd be better served with a different plan.

Bring him out to them. They have more information that you need for context. Why did they go looking for Mortimer? Plus you might need their help if there's still an unmasked guild agent lurking about.

Well. Whether you can trust them or not, there definitely seems to be somebody else out there. Mortimer's not wearing riding boots, after all.

Maybe you can get some answers as to why they were looking for him, while you're at it.

"Well, we're going to have a little talk with them. And I think it would be best if you're there. Whoever grabbed you from the hospital is less likely to act again if there's a crowd."

"Unless those two go for me," Mortimer grumbles.

"You can stay near the door in case you need to get away."

This seems to satisfy him. You lead him down the stairs and out to the front door. When you're outside, you wait a little bit.

"You going to call them or something?" Mortimer asks.

"No, I think they'll find their way to me."

And they do indeed. Sunflower arrives after just a moment.

"Mortimer Flame, I presume? Good to meet you at last."

Mortimer doesn't say anything.

"Where's Black," you start to ask, but Sunflower interrupts.

"The beast has moved quite a bit closer to land. That probably means its rider is preparing for something - maybe to escape, maybe something else."

So Black's probably looking into that.

Hold on, though - Sunflower's giving you a bit of a look. You think it's a "how much did you tell him" look.

And you didn't mention the beast to him. But he doesn't look particularly surprised. That's interesting. Maybe you could ask him about that.

On the other hand, it's not as if you don't have questions for both of them. That particular one might not be the best option to lead with.

Can we move this little party back to the hospital? Mortimer can explain about the attempted kidnapping and Sunflower can explain why they're interested in Mortimer while we skedaddle. And little Mortimer can say Mortimer some more.

"Well, whatever it's planning, I think it'll be easier to handle if we get Mortimer back to the hospital," you say. "He needs a shower, after all."

Mortimer nods.

"Makes sense," Sunflower agrees. "Though it might also make whoever's watching us a little desperate. So, best to be on your guard."

You all start advancing. Mortimer still isn't talking. You decide it might be best to put one of your main questions to Sunflower out in the open; maybe that will help with gaining Mortimer's trust.

"So why are you two interested in Mortimer, anyhow?"

"Mortimer!" says the lizard. Seems he's still tagging along.

"Strictly speaking, we're not interested so much in him as much as we are in whoever thought it was worth dragging him out of the hospital," Sunflower replies. "As to why we're interested in them... well, you might say we're concerned about just what they intend to do in this town more broadly. We think it might put our business ventures at risk."

So they think the kidnapping - or the attempt to influence control of the Guild it represents - could hurt their food-smuggling operation. Of course, they aren't about to admit to being criminals, so they're being very roundabout in answering. But Mortimer told you enough.

And that answer gives you an opening into a question you've been meaning to ask Mortimer. Might as well go for it now.

"I see," you reply. "Well, Mortimer? What can you tell us about whoever tried to kidnap you?"

"They had a weird mask around their neck," he says. "I tore it off and tried to get free, but they hit me in the head a bunch and twisted my arm. Other one's not in great shape right now, so I couldn't do much except yell at 'em a lot until those blows to the head knocked me out. When I came to, I saw..."

He suddenly pauses. He seems doubtful, but after a moment, he continues.

A purple glow... And something fishy

"Something glowing. Didn't really see what it was, all I remember is it was purple. There was an overpowering stink of fish, too." Mortimer pauses. "I remember overhearing some talking, but all I remember is somebody mentioned my Pops. Was too focused on getting away, because I figured they'd be distracted. Saw the guildhouse in the distance, and I knew where they kept the spare key... so I made a run for it."

"Fish," Sunflower mutters. "And you don't remember more precisely where it was?"

"All I could think of was running."

From the sound of his story, he probably woke up just before he was going to be handed off to someone else. Likely near a fishmonger, or maybe a fishing boat. Of course, there's enough of those that it would be hard to narrow it down, even knowing that the guildhouse is in sight.

You make it back to the hospital soon after. You're a bit on edge, since you were half-expecting the kidnappers to strike. But nothing happens.

You arrive back at the emergency door, and pause.

"How much attention have you been paying to this door?" you ask Sunflower. "I think the kidnapper intended to return here, because they disabled the alarm without damaging it. And I'm not sure they haven't come back already."

"I've been watching it a lot of the time, but I've had other things competing for my attention," Sunflower admits. "I can tell someone is still out here, but what Mortimer just said suggests there's more than one kidnapper. So I can't be entirely certain one of them didn't slip back in."

"And possibly reset the alarm," you mutter. You can probably check with the help of the time magic, but you'd prefer another approach if you can think of one.